WHY STRETCHING?Stretching is when you carefully stretch a muscle until it is slightly tense and hold it there for 10-30 seconds. In the meantime - breathe deep breaths and relax.

By stretching regularly you can develop an even flexibility, that makes the general risk of injury less.

Stretching also increase your mindfulness and ability to relax.

Your flexibility is also affected by the temperature in the room and the amount of warmup.

Always warm up with physical activity before stretching.

Anyone with a limited flexibility needs stretching regularly. You need to develop your natural flexibility if your answer is yes to at least one of below questions:

YES???– Lower back pain? Can be due to inflexibility in your hip muscles which affects the curve of the back. Very common issue but actually pretty easy to fix by stretching the hips.– Feeling flabby? Do some stretches to improve your posture.– Are the shoulders slightly forward? That is probably due to short muscles in chest area.– Sedentary job anyone? Stretch the office stretch programs and maintain or improve your flexibility.– Do you spend hours by the computer? Avoid neck pains by stretching.– Are you aging? That decrease your flexibility - but you can do something about it, it is not too late.– Are you stiff in general? Stretching improves your flexibility.

TIPS- Hold a stretch 10-30 seconds, the longer you hold it, the more all muscles around the stretching muscle relax and that makes it all more effective.

- Short of stretching time? Focus on the larger muscle groups and the ones that tend to be short such as breast and shoulder muscles.

- Change your starting side from time to time. Start stretching left leg one day and start out with the right one another day - but always stretch both sides the same amount of time.

Flexibility comes gradual eventually by stretching regularly. Stretching is supposed to be pleasant, not painful, do not try to force the muscle to be longer.

Do not stretch if you feel pain in muscles or joint capsules - get yourself properly checked by a professional immediately.

There are several ways to stretch the same muscle, variation makes all training more fun, even stretching. Find your favorites in Poworkout Stretch.

Check out our workout challenges at facebook.com/poworkout and twitter @poworkout and get fit and fun!Happy Stretching!/Susanne & Caroline - developers of the Poworkout workout apps

NOTE! Please contact us here: http://www.poworkout.com/feedback if you have any questions or experience any problem. There is no way for us to get back to you if you write your issue in a review. We will help to solve any technical issues. We would also love to hear you feedback, and we will be grateful if you wanna be a part of making Poworkout even better. Many thanks in advance!